One57 is a residential skyscraper under construction in Midtown Manhattan. At the moment it is the city's tallest residential building.

Christina HorstenDPA/Landov

Skyscrapers are a hallmark of large cities. Modern engineering makes it possible to erect something as tall as the Empire State Building on a very small footprint. Although developers love these buildings, in New York — the city of skyscrapers — residents have been upset at the shadows they cast over public spaces like Central Park.

Journalist Warren St. John first noticed the shadows when he took his daughter to a playground near Central Park's southern border on sunny, blue-skied fall day. All of a sudden, though, it became chilly. He remembers the parents zipped up their kids' jackets and hurried off. He looked up, "and that's when I realized the sun was behind this new building I'd never paid much attention to," St. John says. "But what really got me was that about six months later, I was at a playground a mile north of here and the exact same thing happened. I looked up, and it was the same building."

On a recent afternoon, St. John again gets caught in the chill in the shadow of another tall, thin building still under construction. It's One57, the tallest building south of the park. And, he says, "it will soon be dwarfed by another building, 30 percent taller." As the sun goes behind the tower, St. John notes, "it's a little chillier."

At a community meeting held to address the rise of supertowers and the reach of their shadows into the park, City Councilman Corey Johnson said that most of these apartments "are being sold to foreign investors, who have tens, if not hundreds of millions of dollars, who are not making this their primary home."

Extell Development, the developer of One57, braved the hostile audience at the community meeting.

"The shadows cast by tall, slender buildings, which is what most of the buildings going up are, are very brief — maybe they're 10 minutes in any one place — and cause no negative effect on the flora or fauna of the park," said Gary Barnett, president of Extell Development. What's more, Barnett says, the buildings are creating many permanent jobs in retail, hospitality and construction. "And these are not minimum-wage jobs," Barnett says. "Many of the union construction jobs compensate between $100,000 and $200,000 a year. Upon salaries like this our fellow New Yorkers can build a better life."

St. John responds that each of these buildings might have 100 apartments, but 40 million people use the park. To wit, in the shadow of One57, he points to a row of empty benches in the shade. "Nobody is sitting on these benches, but over there where the sun is, people are sitting," he says. "They're having a snack."

Moving on to another area of Central Park, older buildings throw shorter shadows right next an open area filled with constant sunlight. He points to buds on the trees in the sunlit area, "but if you look just to the trees beyond them, there are no buds on those trees because that is where the shadows begin to fall from these buildings."

If it was just that one building, St. John says, you could kind of shrug it off. But he ticks off six or seven buildings that are going up right in this area. Central Park is landmarked and protected from development, but there is nothing to protect it from shadows cast by buildings outside the park.

Landscape architect Michael Van Valkenburgh designed the tiny teardrop park near the World Trade Center. Surrounded by tall buildings, he wondered, would there be enough sunlight for a lawn? "Sunlight is the joy of what a park is," he says.

Experts analyzed how much sunlight would be necessary, and one of the architects actually lowered part of a building under construction "so enough sunlight came in," Van Valkenburgh says. "But everything was within inches of not working."

As to whether the shadows will stress trees and plants, he says, they will probably die slowly — over five years. " 'Oh, why are the trees dying?' " he predicts people will say. " 'It must be related to global warming.' "

Van Valkenburgh believes there should be rules in New York about the right to sunlight in public spaces as there are in the zoning laws of some other communities.

As for St. John, he's peeved that there was never any public debate about the supertowers. They just happened. "Maybe at the end of that public debate the public consensus might have been the economic activity generated by these buildings makes it worth it, but we just never had the debate," St. John says.

And at least for these buildings it's probably too late.

Copyright 2014 NPR. To see more, visit http://www.npr.org/.

Transcript

AUDIE CORNISH, HOST:

Think of New York City and you probably think of skyscrapers. New ones go up regularly. Modern engineering makes it possible to erect something as tall as the Empire State Building on a very small footprint. To the developers, these super towers represent a brighter economy. For people down on the ground, the picture is a little darker. NPR's Margot Adler reports that some people are upset about shadows cast over public spaces like Central Park.

MARGOT ADLER, BYLINE: Warren St. John takes me into Central Park, near its southern border. It's a cold but sunny afternoon. He says he first noticed the shadows when he took his daughter to a playground near where we're standing. On a beautiful fall day with blue skies, it suddenly became chilly. All the parents zipped up their kids' jackets and hurried off. He looked up.

WARREN ST. JOHN: And that's when I realized the sun was behind this new building I had never paid much attention to. But what really got me was about six months later, I was at a playground a mile north of here and the exact same thing happened. I looked up and it was the same building.

ADLER: We came out to look for shadows and at 2 p.m., we find a large one from a tall, thin building still under construction.

JOHN: Right now, we're walking into the shadow of One57, which is currently the tallest building south of the park. But it will soon be dwarfed by another building 30 percent taller.

Most of these apartments, as you know, are being sold to foreign investors, who have tens, if not hundreds of millions of dollars, who are not making this their primary home.

ADLER: That's City Councilman Corey Johnson at a community meeting that was held to address the rise of super towers and the reach of their shadows into the park. The developer of One57, whose shadow St. John and I were standing in when we were in the park, braved the hostile audience at the meeting. Gary Barnett, president of Extell Development.

GARY BARNETT: The shadows cast by tall, slender buildings, which is what most of the buildings going up are, are very brief - maybe they're 10 minutes in any one place - and cause no negative effect on the flora or fauna of the park.

ADLER: What's more, he says, the buildings are creating many permanent jobs in retail, hospitality and construction.

BARNETT: And these are not minimum-wage jobs. Many of the union construction jobs compensate between a hundred and $200,000 a year. Upon salaries like this, our fellow New Yorkers can build a better life.

ADLER: Warren St. John responds that each of these buildings might have 100 apartments, but 40 million people use the park. As we stand in the shadow of One57, he points to a row of empty benches in the shade.

JOHN: Nobody is sitting on these benches. But over there where the sun is, people are sitting and they're having a snack.

ADLER: And it was true. Then we move to another area, where older buildings throw shorter shadows right next to an open area filled with constant sunlight.

Then you see buds on the trees. But if you look just to the trees beyond them, there are no buds on those trees because that's where the shadows begin to fall from these buildings.

If it was just that one building, he says, you could kind of shrug it off. But he ticks off six or seven buildings that are going up right in this area. Central Park is landmarked and protected from development. But there is nothing to protect it from shadows from buildings outside the park.

MICHAEL VAN VALKENBURGH: Sunlight is the joy of what a park is.

ADLER: Michael Van Valkenburgh is a landscape architect who designed the tiny teardrop park near the World Trade Center. Surrounded by tall buildings, he wondered, would there be enough sunlight for a lawn? Experts analyzed how much sunlight would be necessary and one of the architects actually lowered a part of a building under construction.

VALKENBURGH: So enough sunlight came in but everything was within inches of not working.

ADLER: As to whether these shadows will stress trees and plants, he says the trouble with plants...

VALKENBURGH: They die slowly. It'll be five years from now and, oh, why are the trees dying? It must be related to global warming.

ADLER: Valkenburgh believes there should be rules in New York about the right to sunlight in public spaces, as there are in the zoning laws of some other communities. As for Warren St. John, he's peeved that there was never any public debate about the super towers. They just happened.

JOHN: Maybe at the end of that public debate, the public consensus might have been, well, the economic activity generated by these buildings makes it worth it. But we just never had the debate.